Burgruine Alt-Sturmberg

Burgruine Alt-Sturmberg is located in Naas, Austria, and was built in the medieval period by local feudal lords. The site first appears in records from the mid-12th century. At the end of that century Juta von Feistritz transferred the castle to her son Leutold von Gutenberg; the estate then passed to Leutold’s daughter and thereafter to the monastery Stift Göß in Leoben. By the early 13th century the location had become a fief held by the family who took the local name, with a Gebhardus von Sturmberg mentioned around 1216.

Major construction and alteration took place in the later medieval centuries. The central tower was erected in the 1300s, probably under Albrecht von Sturmberg, and additional building phases added younger elements in the 1400s. During the 1500s the site was strengthened and expanded: several round defensive towers were added, a new building was placed within the inner courtyard, much of the complex was provided with cellars, and an extra gatehouse was inserted to divide the courtyard.

Ownership and occupation shifted during the early modern period. In 1610 Magdalena Paradeiser, born Ratmannsdorf, bequeathed the then-uninhabited property to her son Friedrich, Freiherr von Herbersdorf. Friedrich’s widow Maria sold the property to Balthasar Fettauer and is recorded as having had to leave Styria as a Protestant during the Reformation. By 1644 most of the castle had fallen into disrepair and only a few rooms were habitable; in 1653 the ruin passed to Ott Gottfried, Freiherr von Kollonitsch. In the 1600s the ruins of Alt-Sturmberg became physically joined to the neighboring Ober-Sturmberg, and the Counts Khevenhüller later attached Alt-Sturmberg to their lordship of Thannhausen. The complex remained occupied until the middle of the 18th century. From the 18th century onward the buildings decayed and the site survives as a ruin; parts of the outer walls collapsed in early 2014. The ruin is recorded as a protected monument under the names Burg Unter-Sturmberg and Burg Alt-Sturmberg.